Dragon Chronicles
by bahamaboy
Summary: A series of short stories about Team Draakfeuer from Blackhole CO's Blackhole Rising.
1. Chapter 1

Dragon Chronicles

Chronicle 1

Another Blackhole Rising substory. I may write more stories Chronicling the tales of Team DraakFeuer, so I may as well say this:I don't own Kachie, John or Alex. I can't remember who madethem but it wasn't me. The main Blackhole Rising plot is credited to Blackhole CO.Anyone from Advanced Wars belongs to Nintendo. THe only things that belong to me are Ryu and his Zoid.

To Ryu, there was nothing like a nice, hot cup o' noodles to go with a cool, cloudless desert night. To Ryu, these moments of solitude, silence and calm were more precious then any other time. These moments, though were rare. One didn't get much alone time when one was in the army. Whenever he could get them though, Ryu took advantage of them. With a prolonged slurp, he finished the cup ramen and tossed the empty cup in a plastic bag he'd brought with him. Laying back on his tarp, Ryu stared up at the starry sky. 'Wonder how long this'll last.' He whispered to the dying fire. It was, at the moment, his only company aside from his shadow. Sometimes it was nice to be alone. Between Alex and John, not to mention the numberless other soldiers in their unit, there was no real silence to be had. Chuckling at the thought of the two other pilots whom he more or less referred to as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Which was which had yet to decide) Ryu sat up and got another cup o' noodles out of the plastic bag. 'Probably not very long now that I think about it. We are in a war. Oh well.' He took the pot of boiling water off the fire, poured it into the cup and stirred it for a few moments. 'Mind if I join you?' The sudden break in silence almost made Ryu drop his noodles in shock. He stopped the cups descent with his left hand while his right went to his Colt .45 and aimed it at the intruder. When he turned and saw the intruder, Ryu found himself looking at Kachie. Kachie had something of a blank look on her face from the shock of having a gun suddenly in her face. 'Errr……..Is this a bad time?' She asked. The Colt .45 disappeared and Ryu let out a nervous breath. 'Sorry about that. Sometimes I can be a little jumpy when I'm off on my own.' He said, shoveling some noodles into his mouth. Kachie chuckled and sat down. 'I noticed. So what are you doing out here?' She asked as Ryu took another slurp of noodles. 'Enjoying the little peace and quiet military life gives. Hungry?'

He tossed her a cup o' noodles and gave her a smile. 'If you don't want those I also have cup udon and cup soba. I also have cup sushi, but it expired a few weeks ago.' He said. Kachie grinned and shook her head. 'I don't see how you can always eat instant food.' She said, opening the noodles and pouring some water in. 'I don't see how you can always eat army food. It taste's bad.' Ryu retorted playfully, quirking an eyebrow at her. Kachie smiled, and he two fell into a silence that was only broken by the occasional slurping of noodles. 'The other day….' Kachie spoke up, breaking the silence. 'Hmmm?' Ryu said through a mouthful of noodles. 'The other day. What is it you were typing?' Ryu stopped chewing as soon as these words made themselves known, and silence returned. The silence this time, though was uncomfortable. 'It was…..a letter.' He said, swallowing his mouthful of noodles. 'To who? Family? Friends? A love interest?' Ryu frowned. Kachie was taking too great an interest, but he decided to answer. He had nothing to hide. 'Nobody. It was to nobody.' He said. Kachie raised an eyebrow. 'Nobody? Come on Ryu you can tell me who it's to.' She said with a smile. Ryu smiled as well, though his was sad. 'Well in that case, I suppose it would be to you, Alex or John. I don't have anyone else.' This reply took Kachie by surprise, and it showed on her face. 'You're kidding…..right?' She asked. Ryu shook his head. 'No. I really wish I was.' He said. Another uncomfortable silence followed. 'Can I read it then?' Kachie asked. At this, Ryu got a mischievous smile. 'One condition. You've got to promise me a date.' This made Kachie blink from surprise. 'What?' Ryu's grin got bigger. 'If you want to read this' A wave of the hand and the floppy disk with the letter made it's presence known 'then you have to promise you'll go out with me.' Another quick movement and the disk vanished as fast as it appeared. The sleight of hand tricks made Kachie giggle. 'Are you being serious or not?' She asked. If possible, Ryu's grin would've gotten bigger. 'We'll flip for it.' He said, a coin showing up between his right index and middle finger. 'If it's heads I'll tell the truth.' He flipped the coin up but had no time to see the result.

Ryu's alertness, which had gone down since Kachie got there, kicked in just in time for him to dodge a knife thrust. Leaping sideways away from the thrust, Ryu pulled out his Colt .45 and fired a shot at his attacker. The attacker dodged the bullet and threw something that glinted silver before it struck Ryu in the arm. Grunting where one with a lesser pain threshold would scream, Ryu pulled the object out. 'A throwing knife.' Ryu muttered. A blur caught his attention, and Ryu looked up just in time to see the attacker coming at him, another knife in hand. One thought ran through Ryu's head. 'He won't take me down without a fight!'Ryu's Colt was aimed and fired just as the attacker reached him. The last few seconds before the darkness took him, Ryu felt himsaelf fall backwards. He saw a knife in his stomach, his attacker dead, and Kachie running towards. Then everything went black.

_'He's very far gone. We'll have to work quickly if he's to survive.'_

_'He's lost a lot of blood. We need a transfusion!'_

_'Blood pressure is increasing! We need to do something about it!'_

_'We're losing him! We're losing him! Hold on soldier!' Don't follow the light!_

_'We've done what we can. All that's left to do is pray.'_

The first thing that occured to Ryu was that things were bright. Far too bright. He took in a breath and regretted it immediately. He broke out in wrenching coughs that caused pain to break out all over his stomach and arm. He finally stopped and managed to take a light breath, only to have it driven out of him by something or someone. 'You're alive!' From what Ryu could gather, at least one person was in the room. That one person was hugging him, and Ryu recognized the voice as Kachie's. 'Welcome back to the land of the living Ryu.' That was John's voice. 'You came real close to biting the big one. I would've brought you some of your instant ramen but they wouldn't allow it.' That was Alex, and his comment made Ryu grin. 'I've heard hospital food is worse then army food, so I doubt I'll be eating good until I get out.' He muttered. 'You jerk! Here I was worried and you're thinking about your stomach!" Kachie said as she stopped huigging Ryu. By the smile on her face though, Ryu knew she didn't mean it. At this point, John put Alex in a headlock and began dragging him out. 'Well, now that we know you're fine, us two will be going. Got to report the good news to the unit!' He said. Alex, who was no doubt confused by John's actions, tried his best to escape the lock as he was dragged out. Kachie looked extremely confused, but Ryu silently thanked John. Letting out a tired sigh, Ryu smiled and laid his head back. 'You know Kachie, this wasn't the kind of date I had in mind.' He muttered as he fell asleep again. He didn't see it, but Kachie had a surprised look on her face as well as a slight blush. It all faded though.Smiling, Kachie kissed her hand then put it to Ryu's forehead. 'That's the closest you're going to get while you're in that bed. Mabye once you get out.' SHe said, sitting down and taking a book out. Ryu didn't hear though. He had fallen asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Dragon Chronicles  
Chapter 2

I finally got inspired to make another short story. Surprise surprise no? Well, in any case, here it is. To the makers of Kachie, John, and Alex (I reiterate, I've forgotten who you are. If you would be so kind to come forward so I can give proper credit, I'd be grateful) and anyone interested in the Blackhole Rising storyline, I apologize if the stories are too Ryu-centric. I don't often like focusing on other people's characters for fear of portraying incorrectly. I fear I may already have, but hopefully not in a major way. So here we go! Note that chapter 2 takes place slightly before Chapter two of Blackhole Rising. Oh, and one more thing. Blackhole CO, if you read this, know there are still people waiting with bated breath for the next chapter.

Despite the heavy clothing he was wearing, Ryu shivered. He wasn't use to such cold weather, and it annoyed him immensely that they were posted in such a frozen land. Maybe that was why he didn't really like Commander Olaf? Pushing the stray thoughts aside, Ryu again looked through the binoculars in his hands. Up ahead, a half mile off, he saw a Blackhole task force pushing forward despite the weather. This made Ryu sigh. 'They don't even realize that they've been lured in. They actually thought we'd leave so vital a route unprotected?' He muttered under his breath. Whoever was leading the Blackhole forces must truly be inept. Still, to Ryu this seemed far too easy, and he had learned that when something was too easy, there was something very wrong. To start, the task force was too light to do any damage. Mainly recons, some artillery and a group of medium tanks, but nothing heavy. No zoids whatsoever. Not even a Rev Raptor! Something was very wrong.

With a great deal of trepidation, Ryu motioned for the platoon's radioman to join him. Without a word being spoken between them, the Radioman handed Ryu the receiver. 'HQ, this is Scout Leader. Enemy force spotted, traveling along the north-east route to our positions. Small force, mainly recon and light units. Only a few tanks. No Zoids. The situation screams setup, so I'm requesting a withdrawal of the platoon until a better situation arises.' There was a burst of static before a reply. 'Request received. Relaying to the CO.' There was a moment of silence before the reply continued. 'Request denied. Your new order is to destroy the task force.' Ryu's jaw dropped when heard this, but contained the anger he felt. 'Why? This looks more like a setup then anything I've ever seen! If we attack and it turns out I'm right we could all die!' Another crackle of static. 'Listen, I just relay the orders pal. You're a soldier, so suck it up and follow them!' Came the reply. On the verge of yelling, Ryu flung the receiver to the ground. 'Stupid REMFs!' He snarled. REMFs were Rear Echelon Mother Fuckers- a standard epithet used by the soldiers in D Company for their despised CO and his staff. And that damn radio operator! Ryu would have his head for talking like that! If the rest of the platoon (Or the rest of D Company) heard, there would be a mob after the man.

Taking several calming breaths, Ryu relaxed slightly. There was no way he would do this. It just felt off, and he wasn't going to lead his platoon into an ambush that would kill them. No matter what the CO said, no matter the professional consequences that he'd face. He wasn't going to do it. Ryu crept down the hill and snuck under the camouflage hiding the Mecha-Ryu from sight. The rest of the squad was all under their camouflage, waiting his order. 'Saddle up! We're withdrawing from the area!' A few sighs and groans came over the radio. Seemed half the platoon really wanted to fight. 'But sir! Our orders were to attack!' A screen came up on the display, and Ryu held back his own groan. The platoon second-in-command, known among them as Gizzard, had apparently overheard the radio conversation. 'Gizzard, I don't care. This looks like an ambush, and I'd rather be called a coward then charge stupidly into something that'll kill us.' Ryu snapped. Gizzard had a way of getting on his nerves far too easily. 'We have our orders from the CO sir! We have to attack!' Ryu closed his eyes and rubbed his temples for a moment. When he reopened his eyes, he was glaring at Gizzard's image. 'I have countermanded them. We are retreating, and so help me Gizzard if you screw this up I will gouge out your eyes and skull fuck you!' He yelled. Gizzard's eyes narrowed and he glared over the video com. 'I'm not accepting that sir. You can't countermand orders from the CO.' Ryu was really losing it now. 'Follow the orders your platoon leader has given you soldier!

Over the radio, there were several other voices. Some siding with Gizzard, others with Ryu. 'I'm with Gizzard! We should be attacking those Blackhole bastards!' 'Chill out Gizzard! The CO is the shittiest one we've ever seen! He's a piece of academy shit.' 'All of you calm down. If Captain Ryu is right then we could all die. I'm not up for willing walking into an ambush.' Ryu and Gizzard had fallen silent while the others debated. They were glaring at each other over the video-com, neither willing to back. Finally, Gizzard spoke. 'When this is over I shall report you to the CO for dereliction of duty. Any who's willing follow me!' Gizzard's Zoid, a Darkhorn, charged out from it's camouflage. Right behind it were two other Zoids, a Zaber Fang and a Guysack. The other four Zoids in the platoon stayed back. If it wasn't an ambush, those three could handle it perfectly. Ryu knew, however, that things almost never worked out how you wanted them to. Sure enough, after several explosions , there came the call. 'Oh shit! Ambush! Ambush!' Ryu sighed. He knew it. Time to come in and save Gizzard's scrawny ass.

'Change of plan gentlemen! We have to rescue our comrades before their stupidity gets them killed! Roll out!' Bringing his Zoid to life, Ryu readied himself for a tough battle. Most of the time, the Mecha-Ryu flew. Flying now, however, would be suicide. While the Mecha-Ryu wasn't slow on foot, it was still faster to fly, especially in so hilly an area. The snow and hills made him recall a line from a book he read, and he smirked as he muttered it. 'Until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside.' The thought left Ryu's mind as he got a limited view of his enemy. It was now looking far worse. In ambush had been a trio of Iron Kongs, a Goujilas, and several other high fire power, high armor Zoids. This was not going to be easy. As soon as the lead Iron Kong saw reinforcements arrive, it turned its attention from Gizzard's battered Darkhorn and opened fire on Ryu. The Mecha-Ryu dodged the shot, which bulls eyed the cockpit of one of Ryu's compatriots. Not noticing his fallen ally, Ryu made right for the Iron Kong and used the Strike Laser Claw to slice through the zoids armor. He moved quickly onto the next, opting this time for gattling guns built into the shoulders. The Goujilas had its cockpit littered with bullets and it fell over after a moment. As Ryu turned towards another Iron Kong he felt an impact. A damage screen popped up, showing that a shell had struck the back of the Mecha-Ryu. Ryu ignored the alarm, turning and lashing out at the offending Zoid. He didn't even notice its type. Merely slashed and moved on.

As it progressed, the battle seemed to get no easier. For every enemy he destroyed two more appeared, and the frequency of shots hitting him was increasing. He paused for a minute to yell into his radio. 'What are you all doing?!' The only reply was static, and for once Ryu noticed why. None of his allies were still standing. More zoids seemed to materialize out of the heavy storm, and Ryu bit his lip so hard it bled. This was an extremely bad situation. He was outnumbered, low visibility, his ammo was running out and he doubted he could slash his way out of here. None of the enemy zoids were attacking, and this only made Ryu even warier then he usually would've been. Out of nowhere, a voice broke over the intercom. 'Stand down dragon. We have you surrounded.'

From the crowd of zoids stepped a black and white Genosaurer. The sight of the zoid made Ryu bite his lip again. As if things could get any worse. Ryu looked towards the Comm window and scowled. Normally the screen would've shown him a picture of the enemy pilot. Right now it showed only a static screen with the words 'Sound only'. The fact that he couldn't see the enemy talking to him put Ryu in a defiant mood. 'And why should I? I'm ready to take on all of you Blackhole Scum.' A pause while the voice thought over Ryu's response before speaking back. 'Drop the bravado. I know for a fact you're running low on ammo. Surrender or we'll kill you.' Ryu bit his tongue, trying to think of some plan to get out. 'Listen, if you join with us you could aid us in ruling this world. The strong thrive and the weak die out. That's the way of life. If you-' The enemy pilot kept going on, but Ryu blocked out whatever he was saying. One thought had entered Ryu's mind. One chance for survival. Then again, it could end up with him dying. Without willing them, fragmented memories of the day his backup plan was installed hit him.

_'Why are you putting that THING in MY zoid?!' Ryu demanded angrily. He was eleven, and with that age came an arrogance and impetuousness that most people would have settled with slapping the boy. Koushiro, though, only regarded Ryu with a heavily guarded expression as he mulled over the plans. 'There's no reason for that THING to be in him! Why are you installing it?!' Koushiro hid his annoyance with boy and spoke slowly. 'It's thought that a person with great power should be prepared for any eventuality. You may need it one day' _

_'I haven't been able to perfect it. The process leading up to the beam formation isn't right, and we don't have the time or resources to rectify it. It could work, but each time you use it the chance of it malfunctioning increases.' Koushiro said glumly. It was a few years after he had first told Ryu. Ryu had to accept it, but didn't like it. 'Ryu, promise me one thing. You must NEVER use it unless you're protecting someone deeply important to you.'_

Remembering the conversation, Ryu sighed and shook his head. There went his back up plan. 'So what do you say? Will you surrender?' The voice brought Ryu back to reality, and he smiled grimly. Aiming his shoulder mounted cannon into the crowd of zoids, he fired. All the zoids except the Genosaurer seemed itching to restart the fight as Ryu had taken out another of their comrades. 'So be it. All troops, take aim.' The horde of zoids surrounding him all aimed their assorted weapons at Ryu in unison. In the back of his mind, a final desperate idea sprung up. With it came the thought of it's low chance of success, but if he didn't try it he was dead anyway. He looked at the Genosaurer in front of him, the only Zoid to not be aiming a weapon at him, and smirked. 'Watch this you smug bastard.' Ryu's hands flew across the console striking buttons, then back to the controls. 'And fire.' The weapons of the horde collectively fired, but the Mecha-Ryu had jumped and started to fly. Despite the powerful winds and zero visibility, Ryu had decided it was better to get torn apart by the winds then blown up. 'Smart. You chose to fly in this blizzard rather then face our weapons.'

Landing on the hill he had once been hiding on, Ryu turned the Mecha-Ryu back to face the horde. They were all only silhouettes, but through the storm he could see the glowing red eyes of the Genosaurer. The still open comm window suddenly cleared of it's static, revealing a serious looking man with the sides of his head shaved. The hair on top was white even though the man didn't look that old. It was the strangest hair style Ryu had ever seen. 'You're obviously no minor pilot.' The man said. Ryu didn't say anything. He only glared at the man. 'My name is Hawke. I'm a Blackhole CO. Who are you?' Ryu was debated about telling him, then decided why not. 'Ryu Hikami. My rank is none of your concern.' Hawke look vaguely amused at the small show of defiance Ryu showed, then nodded. 'Very well.' The comm window closed, and Ryu peered through the storm in anticipation of Hawke's attack. The Genosaurer's red eyes flared, but instead of attacking the Zoid turned and started to walk off. 'We will withdraw for now. I anticipate our next meeting.' Ryu watched with disbelief as the horde of zoids followed Hawke, the lot of them disappearing into the storm. He remained rooted to the hill for a few seconds, staring at the downed zoids of his enemies and allies. 'Damn you. Damn the lot of you.' Ryu muttered. The Mecha-Ryu turned from the scene of the battle and, like the horde, vanished into the storm.

The click of the typewriter was dull, monotone, and reminded Ryu of a news agency. Despite all the advances in technology, Ryu preferred to use an old fashioned type writer for his report. Finishing the last page, he removed it from the type writer, signed it, and put it in his outbox. Right now, he just wanted to go back to sleep. As he headed for his quarters, he was angry to see the CO going to the other direction he was. 'First Sergeant Hikami.' The CO said when the two were close enough. Even though he hated the man, Ryu went to attention and saluted. 'Sir.' The CO looked annoyed before motioning to Ryu to relax. 'Before I read your report on the incident, I want to hear what you have to say about your actions and whether you thought them appropriate.' Ryu bit his tongue, which helped hold his anger back. 'The actions I took were what I deemed appropriate to the situation.' He said. The CO did not appear amused. 'Even though those actions lead to the death of you battalion?' It was here Ryu lost his cool. He grabbed the CO by his collar and lifted the man into the air. 'It was your suicide order that killed them! I reported it was a trap and you still told me to go! If you hadn't placed that bastard of a yes-man Gizzard on the mission with me we all would've made it out alive! Don't you DARE try to scrape responsibility for this onto me!' He dropped the man and stormed off. He no longer wanted to sleep. He headed to the officer lounge, expecting to be swamped for details of what had happened. He had already heard several people whispering about it. As it turned out, he never got to the lounge. When he was passing by his room, he saw Alex, John and Kachie waiting outside. They heard him coming and looked up. All of them had grim looks on their faces, and Ryu was sure the looks matched his own. As soon as he got to the door, he stopped. The team all looked at each other, and without a word they knew they all agreed. Something had to be done.


End file.
